Walking after her was Kavitha, also draped in a Kanjeevaram saree, Kannada style. Only one girl was selected for a particular style and Anu, though not proud of her thoughts, was happy that her competitor was Kavitha.

But nothing had prepared Anu for what befell the poor girl. When Kavitha waddled down the ramp, the selectors showed no interest in her while the boys were savage. ‘Try the elephant costume!’ ‘Don’t walk. Roll down the ramp, fatty!’

Kavitha was in tears and Anu was enraged. She began to think of many different ways to get back at the boys but before she could come up with a plan, the selectors read out the list of the chosen ones. Anu was in but she felt miserable looking at the tears rolling down Kavitha’s eyes messing up her make up.

Forgetting for a moment how much she wanted to be in the show, Anu had held up her saree and walked up the ramp. ‘I will not participate. Instead, I want Kavitha to do the walk.’ Even as she uttered the words, her heart sank to the pit of her stomach. All her effort was a waste. Did Kavitha have to be in the same costume as hers? But when she had looked at Kavitha’s stunned but delighted face, Anu had sighed and tried to be happy.

But the catcalls and booing against Kavitha had made Anu, what Sameer termed, pull-an-Anu on the boys. The usually non-belligerent Anu went livid. ‘What is your problem?’ she had shouted at the boys. ‘Do you think you are perfect?’

Her little speech was as ineffective as the dainty little hankerchief she was using to wipe the sweat pouring from her face. Boys were now even more encouraged to catcall and boo both Anu and Kavitha. But luckily, Kavitha’s grandfather who had come in to check on them became their knight-in-shining-Rayon pants. When he stood next to Anu and stared, the boys had quietened down instantly. The fashionistas agreed to include Kavitha in the pageant along with Anu, on the grandfather’s insistence.

But that particular incident had also resulted in two disasters. The overzealous grandfather had next insisted that Anu and Kavitha walk the car ramp again, but this time together. Individually both the girls had manoeuvred the slope but now, together, with Kavitha holding on to Anu’s hand in glee, they both had toppled and rolled.

The second disaster was Kavitha’s newfound love for Anu. After that, she wore what Anu wore, went to the same college that Anu went to, and lived in the same apartment complex that Anu did. The only time Kavitha failed to mimic Anu was in her pregnancy. She had her son Adi two years earlier than Anu had Vicky. But to make up for that, Adi too was now in Dew Drops.